A photo journal about what it was like to be full time RVers for three years and now Florida residents--for friends, family, and curiosity seekers. We still travel by car, but are house owners now.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

At the Gulf....In Alabama!

Gulf Shores, AL High: 79 Low: 54

We've landed in Gulf State Park, in Gulf Shores, Alabama, after a 188 mile drive from Montgomery, AL today..Gulf State Park offers 496 spacious campsites with full hookups, 50 amp. It's a 6,150 acre big rig friendly park with lots of trails and walking paths. The roads are paved and the sites asphalt pads. There's an 18 hole, par 72 golf course owned by the park, 44.00 with a senior discount, a little too pricey for us. The park's fishing pier reaches 1,540 feet into the Gulf of Mexico....

When you come to Gulf Shores, it's first come, first served. You can make reservations, but if you are wanting to stay longer than just a few days, as it heads more into the winter season, you need a reservation to get in. It's that popular! If you make a reservation it just guarantees you a spot, but not a specific one. We liked the park so much last year during a short stay, we went ahead and reserved for the season, just to keep our options open for the winter. Things change over a year's time, and we decided we will only be here the month of November. So when we checked in, we looked the map over, and picked a spot. We started out one site for 471.00 for the monthly rate. (Monthly rates are only available from October (?) thru March.)

Sparky decided after viewing our first spot, it was a little too secluded...a little too barren. Really blocked off by tall barren, dried out shrubs and dead trees..hardly anybody was in that wing of the park when we came in..She likes to be around people a little more...or at least a little scenery....If you don't like your site when you first come in, you have to leave your rig on the spot, then go back in the car and let them know you want a different one, so we drove around in the car and picked out this spot...It's a LOT prettier...and because it's near the water, it's a little more. For an additional 27.50 for the month, we have a beautiful view on a narrow lake on a roomy site.

This is a wonderful, BIG park with full amenities....

Fantastic Olympic sized swimming pool, 5,000 square feet! along with a splash pool..They also have a nice nature center and a boat ramp AND the beach is across the way...two miles of white sandy beaches...Too bad the pool is not heated..it's only 64 degrees right now...Too cold even for Sparky! She's afraid she will get leg cramps swimming laps...(There's always the ocean, right across the turnoff for the state park campground, Sparky. It's 74 degrees! reminds E.) Yep, and you just have to worry about sharks and stingy thingies, says Sparky. We'll see...Sparky doesn't like swimming in salt water much. Picky, picky!

We'll be posting lots more photos daily about Gulf State Park...It's awesome!

Tomorrow we are headed to the Blue Angels Homecoming show...Whoopee! See you there....

Toured Gulf State in September even though we knew there were no spots to be had ... unless we do the first come-first serve. We may try to get in sometime this season for a day or two, and will likely make reservations for next year for a longer period of time.

We spent 14 days there this past April and found it delightful. We would have actually cancelled the rest of our trip and stayed there longer, but would have had to leave and come back and get a different site. We decided if we had to pack up and "leave" anyway we might as well continue our trip as planned. It really IS a wonderful camping destination!!! We definitely plan to return. Smiles

About Us

After traveling full time in a motorhome for three years, we decided to come off the road and settle on Florida's west coast. We still travel and occasionally rent an RV because we miss it so much. Sparky creates and crafts and has a shop on Etsy. Be sure to check out http://etsy.com/shop/JeanBeanGifts to see what she's been making. Thanks for reading us!